Fall is in the air and we are just a few weeks away from the first Polar Express train ride to leave Batesville headed to the North Pole.

What an exciting time this should be for all of us! We will have visitors from all over coming to Batesville, many for the first time, and we need to be ready to welcome them with open arms.
The City of Batesville has been working tirelessly to prepare for the thousands of new visitors that will descend upon our community with money in their pockets. Some are coming from hundreds of miles away and will be staying in our hotels, eating in our restaurants and visiting our retail stores. The businesses and retailers throughout Panola County will have a once-in-a-lifetime chance to take advantage of this great opportunity to dramatically increase their holiday sales.

The key to success will be to adequately prepare in advance for this historic event. We are expecting upwards of 35,000 riders. Ticket sales have exceeded expectations and extra cars for the Polar Express have been added to accommodate the numbers. The overall economic impact this event will have on our community will be tremendous.

This year we are encouraging all businesses to really step it up in their decorating efforts and to educate their employees on how to greet our new neighbors when they are in town. You never know who may be among those that will be with us.

Visitors could include an industry rep who is looking to locate or expand his or her business. It may be a major retailer that is looking for a new location, it may be a mom and pop who are looking for a suitable place to locate their business or it may be just a family that is looking for a good place to live and to raise a family. You never know.

The impressions we make on our new friends will be lasting. We need to make sure they are good. Again the bottom line is, we need to be ready and to do that, you as a business must begin to prepare NOW.

Our goal should be to treat our guests like family so they will come here, have a great experience, leave here, go home and share that experience with friends and family so they will want to come here and experience Panola County for themselves. There are communities all over this state that would love to have this opportunity. Let’s make sure we get this right.
Forever forward